The Cascade Climate Network has begun to mobilize and unite students and youth in the Pacific Northwest. Outreach is being conducted to major colleges in Oregon and Washington to get a strong showing of student solidarity. We have a realistic yet hefty goal of collecting 10,000 student signatures by January 31st. As a follow up to presenting the Cascade Climate Declaration at Focus the Nation, lobby visits will be scheduled with our respective elected officials in February.
On October 5-7 2007, 20 student leaders representing 10 colleges in Oregon and Washington gathered for Cascade Youth Climate Conference, at Government Camp on the base of Mt. Hood. The goal of the conference was to develop a campaign plan and vehicle which will begin to spread the youth climate movement off of campuses and into a larger political arena. In addition to influencing state and regional policy, this campaign was designed to help link student efforts across the region and allow the youth climate movement to continue to grow and solidify in this region.
This conference included presentations on the current political
climate and legislation, and a brief training on campaign planning.
The majority of our time was spent planning a regional campaign to
support ethical and environmentally sustainable state energy policy.
In addition we drafted the Cascade Climate Declaration to be used as a sign on for
students, faculty and staff and will be presented to our governors in
accordance with the timing of Focus the Nation, on January 31st 2008.
